Hey im just starting out here and im having trouble walking away from my charcters being walking cliches? Im using some of the ideas in the "giving characters humanity topic" seeing them fail and trying to depict their motives but it turns them into almost imitations of the modern super hero, does anyone have any suggestions?
Yay hay hay its an ordinary day and its just your state of mind, at the end of the day, you just have to say its allright
Yay hay hay its an ordinary day and its just your state of mind, at the end of the day, you just have to say its allright.
Film site http://Earthdefenceforce.bebo.com
maybe tell us a little bit more about your screenplay in general...
www.maketradefair.com
www.thehungersite.com
www.oxfam.ca
www.maketradefair.com
www.thehungersite.com
www.oxfam.ca
kinda goes along these lines with out giving away the story- group of people stuck in a vital job that ensures the planets saftey, none of them want to do it bar one and they where all put intoit by being in the wrong place at a wrong time. The story is scifi and im having trouble making up intellegent or funny dialogue that hasnt been done before
Yay hay hay its an ordinary day and its just your state of mind, at the end of the day, you just have to say its allright.
Film site http://Earthdefenceforce.bebo.com
Yay hay hay its an ordinary day and its just your state of mind, at the end of the day, you just have to say its allright.
Film site http://Earthdefenceforce.bebo.com
If you are afraid of cliches try totally reversing one of the cliches and make a big deal about it.
For example imagine a fearless, intelligent, can-do sort of guy. Afraid of nothing. To much of a pulp fiction cliche to be real. Well, make him afraid of snakes and suddenly your wild archeologist is different and non-cliched and you have a couple of funny scenes.
Second example, similar character. Intelligent, brilliant soldier/cop. Afraid of nothing. Indestructable is dull. So lets make him less than sane. Wife died and that put this superhero on the edge, perhaps over the edge. Suddenly Martin Riggs your supercop is a bit easier to sympathise with and you can add a couple of funny scenes around his possible insanity.
Okay you're talking about a bunch of talking characters so its a little different but the idea is the same. If you've got someone saying something cliched have them doing something different or wearing clothes that seem counter to what we expect to see.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
Aha im liking, thanks loads il see wat happens if i do it along those lines
Yay hay hay its an ordinary day and its just your state of mind, at the end of the day, you just have to say its allright.
Film site http://Earthdefenceforce.bebo.com
Yay hay hay its an ordinary day and its just your state of mind, at the end of the day, you just have to say its allright.
Film site http://Earthdefenceforce.bebo.com
quote:
Well, make him afraid of snakes and suddenly your wild archeologist is different and non-cliched and you have a couple of funny scenes.
Not to mention that Indiana Jones fails at almost everything he does, only to finally succeed at the end of the movie; a big difference from the invulnerable superheroes like Lara Croft.
A great example of this kind of thing-- not exactly the same but similar in that it's a defiance of expecations, is the "failed plan." Like Indy always failing...
The entire series of 24 is based on this. We always know what Jack INTENDS to do when he sets out on a mission, but he ALWAYS fails. This is why the show is so great, and how it's propelled in new and interesting ways (usually). Instead of watching in suspense waiting to see how a hero is going to SUCCEED, we watch in suspense waiting to see how he's going to FAIL. Great storytelling and great TV. Long live 24. The trick is to make him fail in ways that we never could have imagined, and make him fail spectacularly, where we as an audience can't see a solution. You have to introduce a NEW element to aid in the solution, but ideally that element is one that has been previously SET UP.
Ah, story structure...
